Cambridge United head coach Neil Harris relishing his first game at the Abbey against Blackpool
Cambridge United head coach Neil Harris ‘can’t wait to get started’ at the Abbey as the new U’s boss prepares to take charge of his first home game, against Blackpool on Saturday (3pm).
The new United head coach got his managerial career with the U’s underway last weekend as his side scored two late goals to come back from 2-0 down to draw with Charlton Athletic at the Valley.
But on Saturday he will witness the full Cambridge United experience as he welcomes Neil Critchley’s Tangerines to the Abbey.
“We had a brilliant result last week, we’ve had a brilliant week and I can’t wait to get started. It’s important that we impose ourselves on the game,” said Harris.
“It’s a notoriously tough place to come, we want to make it that. The reality is that we’re going to have to work extremely hard for every point for the rest of the season. I’d love to start with a positive result but a positive performance like we had at the Valley would be great.
“I’m looking forward to the occasion and I’m looking forward to seeing my players in my first home game. I want to see us on the front foot, being aggressive and I want to see us cause teams problems.”
Harris stated how important it has been to take the confidence from the weekend’s comeback into this week’s training, where he is still trying to learn about how his players and staff work while implementing his own style on the group.
“If it had stayed at 0-0 or it had been a 1-1 or we had been leading, it would have been a really, really good point. But to comeback like we did and to play so well for probably three quarters of the game has been a real momentum push for us,” said Harris.
“We’re at the stage of the season where we’re in a little bit of protection mode. They’ve had a lot of fixtures and we’ve got the Christmas period coming. It’s not about overworking the players, it can’t be.
“But, it’s been good to have a couple more days with the players just to get to know them better and certainly an opportunity for us to prepare for a difficult game at the weekend against a good in-form Blackpool team.
“Momentum was huge for us, there was a real good vibe about the place (last week). This week’s been the same I’ve got to be honest. That was the beauty of getting the result like we did.
“We want to carry that into Saturday’s game against Blackpool.”
After what has been a mostly positive week for the new U’s boss, Harris revealed in his pre-match press conference that striker Fejiri Okenabirhie will be out for ‘months, not weeks’ and that there will be a few ‘touch and go’s’ to assess before the visit of the Tangerines.
Blackpool currently find themselves eighth in the Sky Bet League One standings and are only three points off the play-off places.
Harris is very aware of the threat they pose to spoiling his first game in charge at the Abbey and said: “They’ve got some good players obviously. They’ve got some real attacking threat and some pace in the team as well. What they are good at is that they can play with the football and can also put it over the top of you.
“That’s a really tough balance to play against at times.
“While Charlton have got Alfie May, Blackpool have got Jordan Rhodes. Sometimes when you have a goalscorer it can make life so much easier for you as a group. He (Rhodes) has experience and quality as well.”
